So far, Nowitzki is the league’s MVP
Nash is nice, and LeBron, Kobe and Wade are expected, but Dirk is tops
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Over at Basketball-Reference.com, there's an article suggesting, almost timorously, that on numbers alone Steve Nash deserves MVP consideration. I'm of the school that questions his 2005-06 award, and believes Nash was denied the 2006-07 trophy simply because three straight would've been too much. This year, though, would be as outrageous to me as some found his 2004-05 MVP (weird to recall that Shaquille O'Neal was the other major candidate).
Who got the 2006-07 MVP? Steve's old pal Dirk Nowitzki, who had to accept the award under a cloud of humiliation after the Mavericks were sent home early in the playoffs. The Mavs had been a regular-season powerhouse, Nowitzki had become a tougher, more complete player and unlike the Suns — who started to unravel late in the year — Dallas seemed destined for a championship after making the Finals the previous season. Without discounting Nowitzki's award, it seems like the voters made a concerted effort to go safe, rather than make a bold choice that would open them up to believing someone else's hype.
I don't want to get into a discussion of how these decisions are made or what the award means, if anything. However, if there is an unlikely player who now belongs at the top of anyone's MVP list, it's Nowitzki, not Nash.
The safe choices, of course, would be Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Dwyane Wade; even "Nash, once again on top of the Suns offense" would at this point be more predictable. Chris Paul, injuries aside, is going to need to walk on water in the coming months to qualify as even a longshot candidate. Nowitzki, on the other hand, is having a better season so far than in 2006-07 and leading a far less loaded Mavs team to a really, really strong start in the West.
No one doubted that Nowitzki was one of the league's best, or that the Mavs could potentially be a factor in the West. But he's elevated them from intriguing to legit and asserted that a player who can make his presence felt league-wide, not just a perennial all-star.
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